up-country station, where I had purchased him
a few days previously. Horses frequently
traverse great distances in Australia, to
return to the station on which they have
been bred. Indeed, well-authenticated
instances are related of some of these animals
having been brought seawards from Sydney
to Melbourne; yet, by some infallible
instinct, finding their way back overland. I had
no concern then, for the ultimate loss of my
property; but, in the meantime, what should
I do? Two-thirds of my journey were
already accomplished, and being unacquainted
with the country, I knew not where to seek
assistance in that locality. I decided, therefore,
on proceeding, and—there was no help
for it—I must walk.

Now, a ten-mile walk was never more than
an unconsidered trifle to me; but unfortunately
in chasing my vagrant steed, I had
strayed from my path. I felt confident,
however, that it lay to the left, and accordingly
I shaped my course in that direction. It
proved afterwards that, in the excitement of
the chase, I had crossed the track, so that
I now receded from, instead of approaching
it.

The scene of my disaster was just at the
end of the open country which I had
hitherto traversed, and I was now amongst
lofty ranges, densely clothed with encalypti
and boxwood, with intervening scrubby
gullies, through and across which I now
made my way. When previously riding over
the Coliban plains I had noticed a lofty
mountain, with the designation of which I
was, at that time, unacquainted; but I have
since learned to call it Mount Alexander.
This I had been instructed to leave on my
right; not finding the bush-track, I imagined
that I was getting amongst the adjoining
ranges, and therefore deviated still more to
the left.

The heat of the day soon began to tell upon
me; and remembering the shortness of the
distance I had to travel, I relaxed my speed.
I had no thought yet of having lost my way;
but the incessant exertion necessary to ascend
and descend the steep and rocky hills fatigued
me greatly. Soon, a real danger loomed in
perspective. I had long observed what I
supposed to be a dense vapour hanging over
the neighbouring ranges; at length I became
conscious that it was smoke; the bush
around me was on fire! All the horrors of
my situation burst upon my mind, and all the
dreadful tales that I had heard, of men burnt
to death in the forests, crowded into my
remembrance. Anxious to ascertain the full
extent of my danger, I climbed a lofty range,
and thence gazed out upon a sea of fire, or
rather smoke, the dense volumes of which
canopied the scene below, and hid the
smouldering flames. But in my face blew the
wind, hot from contact with the fierce
element, and laden with the unmistakeable
scent of burning timber. My ear, too, caught
a low sullen roar, like the sound of distant
breakers, and an accompaniment, which I
easily recognised as the crackling of the
burning mass.

I turned to look for Mount Alexander, but
it was not visible from my point of view. I
had no resource but to proceed, and trust to
events for deliverance. I bitterly repented
my imprudence in not returning to the creek,
and following its course till I had struck the
bush-track.

I hurried on, in the hope of crossing the
limits of the fire before it should reach me;
and I was inexpressibly delighted, when
shortly afterwards I came to a part of the
forest which had been already burnt. The
blackened earth yet smoked; here and there,
heaps of brushwood smouldered, and many
of the trees were still on fire. The flames,
leaped from branch to branch; and the
huge trunks glowed like red-hot cylinders.
Every second, a resounding crash proclaimed
the fall of some monarch of the forest;
and great care was necessary to avoid the
blazing fragments which fell around me. But
I felt comparatively safe; for here the
greatest enemy was at bay.

I walked a full hour through this
monstrous furnace, half blinded and suffocated
by the smoke, and my feet so blistered by
contact with the hot earth, that I could
scarcely support the pain. The skin of my
face, moreover, peeled off with the fierce
heat, and I perspired to the verge of exhaustion.
It was, therefore, with a sensation of
intense satisfaction that I at length entered
an unburnt space on the slope of the
mountain range. It is well known that the
slightest obstacle suffices to turn aside the
fiery current; and thus it happens that in
the very midst of such a scene as I have
described, the traveller suddenly comes upon a
verdant oasis.

Anxious to reach the valley, the appearance
of which seemed to indicate the presence
of water—from the want of which I was
greatly suffering—I descended rapidly, and
was about midway, when my attention was
arrested by a repeated and peculiar rustling
noise in the tall dry grass through which I
was walking. Not perceiving anything I
moved on; when just as I was about to step
on a withered tuft, a diamond snake glided
swiftly out of it, and disappeared amidst the
scrub. The rustling was now explained. I
was in the midst of a snake-heap! These
reptiles fly before the bush-fires, which
are fatal to them; and an innumerable
quantity, driven from their ordinary haunts,
had taken refuge in this undevastated spot.
I felt at once that my only chance of safety
was in my speed; so, picking up a huge stone
that lay close by, I rolled it with all my
force down the slope, to alarm my unpleasant
neighbours, and closely following its course,
ran fleetly and safely to the bottom.

I was disappointed in my hope of obtaining